Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many full-time equivalent work coaches her Department employs, (b) how many new work coaches (i) were recruited in September and (ii) have been recruited to date in October 2020 and (c) how many full-time equivalent work coaches are being trained to work specifically with young people.

All Work Coaches within DWP are trained to help individual customers with their work search activity. As part of the Youth Offer, launched earlier this year we have introduced the role of the Youth Employability Coach to support those young people in receipt of Universal Credit who are furthest away from the labour market and require support to overcome multiple barriers to work.

Our local leaders are using their place based plans to establish the resource required to deliver all elements of the Youth Offer including the 13-week intensive support programme for all young people making a new claim to UC, alongside deployment of experienced Work Coaches into our network of Youth Hubs.

At the end of September 2020 circa 15,000 Full Time Equivalent Work Coaches were employed by the Department. We are on target to recruit 4,500 Work Coaches by end of October.